A Florida county’s water and wastewater services division - one of the largest in the state - managed work orders with a paper process. From printing work orders, to creating, and completing work orders on paper, most of the effort was done outside of Maximo. Later, they updated the data in Maximo. This cumbersome process created errors, consumed valuable time and prevented Maximo from providing current information. To fix it, they created a project to mobilize work order management using DataSplice.

In mobile work order management, they wanted to empower employees to do the following:

■ Plan job tasks ■ Enable travel start/stop times ■ Create and complete work orders in the field ■ Add labor, materials, log and tools from the tablet ■ Automate work start/stop times for labor reporting

In mobile warehouse inventory management, they wanted employees to do the following:

■ Scan inventory ■ Issues ■ Receipts ■ Transfers ■ Monthly cycle counts ■ Physical counts

Mobilize Work Order Management with DataSplice and Increase Your Organization’s Productivity

One Organization’s Story About Overcoming Obstacles to Implement a Paperless Solution

Case Study: Water Utility Enterprise Implementation

Their objective to go paperless and to implement mobile work order management presented several challenges. The team identified the following:

1. Automation vs. paper: The steps required to automate a system that had been done with paper, as well as a tablet to use in the new process.

2. Resistance to change: Statistically, most employees are slow embrace new technology.

3. User buy-in: To increase acceptance of a new process and technology, the employees would need to quickly see the benefits.

4. User frustration: While similar to mobile phones, not everyone had experience using tablets. For the project to be successful, training and support would need to be provided.

5. Connectivity: Because network connectivity is not 100% guaranteed, the team wanted to ensure a user could work offline and then upload the data after regaining connection.

After identifying their challenges, the team created solutions and implemented them. This is an overview of how they rolled out their project:

1. They identified DataSplice as their mobile for Maximo solution because it provides only the data required to do the job, it can work in a connected or disconnected mode and can be used for work orders, inventory, inspections, GIS mapping and forms.

2. They mapped the steps required to create PMs using paper versus the steps required using an iPad. With the iPad, they would eliminate a minimum of ten steps.

3. They refined their process for field workers.

4. They created a pilot group and a phased approach.

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5. They created a testing plan that included tasks such as: ■ Retrieve the Work Orders on the tablet. ■ Create CMP and CM Work Orders on the

tablet, and attach photos from the tablet. ■ Add items and work logs to the Work Order. ■ Add additional crafts or tools to the Work

Order in the field. ■ Start and Stop Labor and Travel time on the

Work Order. ■ Complete Tasks and Work Orders on the

tablet.6. They used iPads to do the testing and provided

weekly reports on findings of what worked and what needed to be fixed, while providing group and one-on-one training and support.

As of August 2017, this county’s water and wastewater services division reported the following successes:

■ Reduced paperwork and increased efficiency: 6000 PMs automated per month.

■ Redundant data entry eliminated: no more issues with hard to read penmanship or smudged text for the clerk from paper notes.

■ No delays in updating information in Maximo and no lost work orders.

■ Enhanced data quality with less errors and better track of labor hours.

■ Repurposed staff: Schedulers and data entry staff better utilized.

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